The Packers have said they won’t confine their General Manager search to internal candidates or outsiders who previously were on the inside in Green Bay. And they apparently meant it.
Via Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, former Bills G.M. Doug Whaley is “expected to” receive interest for the job currently held by Ted Thompson.
Whaley had been the G.M. in Buffalo, before being fired after the draft. With the hay largely in the barn (but for a few trades made by new G.M. Brandon Beane), the Bills made it to the playoffs for the first time in 18 years.
Indeed, each of the three teams who fired General Managers after the rosters were largely set (Bills, Chiefs, Panthers) made it to the playoffs this year. That explains why two of the General Managers who were fired already have been rehired.
Whaley could be the third. To get there, however, the Packers will have to get past a disastrous press conference from Whaley in early 2017. If, however, the Packers are content to allow Whaley to wall himself off from the media in the same way that Thompson did, that may not be much of an issue.